The Timeline of Muhammad

This timeline lists the major events in Prophet Muhammad's life. All dates are approximate

Date

Event

Description

570 AD

Birth of Muhammad

Muhammad ibn ‘Abdullāh is born in "the year of the Elephant". His father, ‘Abdu’llah ibn ‘Abdu’l-Muttalib, had died before his birth, and his mother, Amina bint Wahb, swiftly puts him into the care of a wet-nurse named Halimah.

575 AD

Returned to mother

Believing that the young Muhammad is possessed by a demon, Halima returns him to his mother.[1]

577 AD

Death of mother

After his mother's death, Muhammad is taken in by his grandfather, Abd al-Muttalib. And after his death, his paternal uncle, Abu Talib.

595 AD

Marriage to Khadijah

Muhammad marries his wealthy twice-divorced distant cousin, Khadijah, who later becomes his first follower. She had already borne two sons and a daughter from her previous marriages, and the union between her and the "insignificant" Muhammad is a controversial one which almost leads to bloodshed.[2] (read more)

610 AD

The first “revelation”

Muhammad receives what he comes to believe is his first otherworldly visitation, which he later identifies with the angel Jibreel and a revelation from Allah. At first, he believes he may be possessed by a demon, and attempts to commit suicide, only to be stopped by the angel.[3]

613 AD

Islam preached publicly

For the first time, Muhammad begins to preach Islam publicly in Mecca. His preaching is met with skepticism, and he is accused of plagiarizing the “tales of the ancients”.[4] One of his most sternest of critics is his own uncle, Abu Lahab, who is cursed by name in the Qur'an.[5] The Meccans ask for miracles, but Muhammad gives them none. (read more)

615 AD

Friction with the Quraysh

Muhammad's "shameful" attacks[6] on the native pagan beliefs causes friction between his followers and the Quraysh. Muhammad allows Muslims to leave Arabia for Abyssinia, while he chooses to stay behind and continue his preaching.

619 AD

Khadijah's death

The death of his wealthy and only wife Khadijah, is quickly followed by the death of his uncle and protector, Abu Talib. Not long after, he asks Abu Bakr for his six-year-old daughters hand in marriage.

619 AD

The Satanic verses incident

Muhammad finally acknowledges Allat, Manat, and al-Uzza, the goddesses of the pagan Meccans in a revelation. Upon hearing this, the Meccans are overjoyed. Later, following an alleged visit from the angel Jibreel, Muhammad recants and claims they were the words of the devil. (read more)

620 AD

Buraq and the Night Journey

Muhammad reports that he had been carried to Jerusalem and then to Paradise on a mythological flying steed named Buraq,[7] and has met the other prophets. Over the sixth heaven, he meets Moses who weeps because there would be more Muslims in heaven than Jews.[8] (read more)

622 AD

The Hijra

Due to growing animosity between the pagan and Muslim Meccans, Muhammad and his followers flee to Medina, marking the beginning of the Hijra era of the Islamic lunar calender, and also paving the way for Muhammad's metamorphosis from a preacher to a political and military leader.

622 AD

Marriage consummation with Aisha

Muhammad consummates his marriage to Aisha, his nine-year-old bride. Originally when Muhammad had asked for Aisha's hand in marriage, her father, Abu Bakr, had protested.[9] (read more)

624 AD

The Nakhla raid

Muhammad orders the 7th Caravan Raid against the pagan Meccans, a raid which would mark the beginning of violence in the name of Islam. Taking place in one of the four holy months in which fighting was forbidden, the leader of the Meccan caravan is killed, and two others are taken captive.

624 AD

The Battle of Badr

Following the caravan raids, the Meccans decide to retaliate. Although they're vastly outnumbered, the Muslims defeat the pagan Meccans; killing at least seventy and capturing another seventy for ransom.[10] Among the prisoners of war is Al Nadir, a storyteller and poet who had mocked Muhammad. Ali beheads Al Nadir on Muhammad's orders.[11] Muhammad also orders another twenty-four to be thrown into the well of Badr.[12]

624 AD

Exile of the Jewish Qaynuqa

Breaking an earlier treaty, Muhammad and the Muslims besiege the Jewish Qaynuqa tribe. Muhammad initially intends to execute all the males,[13] but following an emotional plea from Abdullah bin Ubayy, he confiscates their property and exiles them from Medina.

625 AD

The Battle of Uhud

The second military encounter between the Meccans (led by Abu Sufyan) and the Muslims. Due to the Muslim focus on salvaging booty rather than victory,[14] this time the pagan Meccans defeat the Muslims of Medina, and Muhammad himself is hurt by an attack from Khalid ibin al-Walid.

625 AD

Siege and exile of the Jewish Nadir

The Muslim siege of the Jewish Nadir tribe lasts for two weeks, after which they surrender. Muhammad confiscates their weapons and exiles them from Medina.

627 AD

The Battle of the Trench

The Battle of the Trench was not a battle at all, but a fortnight-long siege. Having heard of the strength of the approaching Meccan army, Muhammad's companion, Salman the Persian, advises him there should be trenches dug around the northern front of Medina to prevent hostile Meccans from entering Muslim territory. Coming unprepared for a siege, the Meccan army retreat after two weeks.

627 AD

The Genocide of the Jewish Qurayza

Following the Battle of the Trench, Muhammad accuses the Jews of Banu Qurayza of betraying him. The women and young children who have not yet reached puberty are taken captive by Muslims to be sold in slave markets for horses and weapons,[15] and all the males who have reached puberty are beheaded on Muhammad's orders.[16] (read more)

628 AD

The Treaty of Hudaybiyya

Muhammad and his men attempt to make a pilgrimage to Mecca. His forces are met outside the city by the pagan Meccans. Muhammad and the pagan Meccans conclude the Treaty of Hudaybiyya, a ten-year truce.

628 AD

The conquest of Khaybar

Muhammad and the Muslims besiege the Khaybar oasis. The combatants killed, and the women and children allotted as booty. The Jewish leader, Kinana, is tortured and beheaded, and his young widow, Safiyah, is taken by Muhammad for himself. (read more)

628 AD

Poisoned at Khaybar

Immediately following the conquest of Khaybar, Muhammad and his men are served a meal of poisoned lamb by a Jewish women named Zaynab bint al-Harith, causing him to fall ill. Muhammad questions her,[17] and then has her executed.[18]

630 AD

The conquest of Mecca

The Muslims conquer Mecca. Muhammad rides on camel-back to the Ka'aba, then starts reciting verses from the Qur'an, while his men remove and destroy everything they consider idolatrous from the Ka'aba. This is the first of many non-Muslim worship places to be forcibly converted into a mosque. (read more)

630 AD

Muhammad rules Arabia

The Muslims prevail in the Battle of Hunayn against the Bedouin tribe of Hawazin and conquer Ta'if. In doing so, they capture huge spoils, consisting of 6,000 women and children and 24,000 camels. Muhammad is now the ruler of Arabia.

631 AD

All Arabians submit to Islam

Muhammad sends (the now converted) Khalid ibin al-Walid and other warriors to the remaining non-Muslim Arabian tribes, forcing them to accept Islam.[19]

631 AD

The Tabuk raid

The expedition to Tabuk marked the first real act of aggression by the Muslims against Christians. Two/thirds of the Christian world would be conquered before the much belated and weak response of the crusades. By the time Muhammad arrives at Tabuk, the Byzantine troops have already withdrawn. However, the local Christian leaders are forced to pay Jizyah and submit to Islamic rule.

632 AD

The Farewell pilgrimage

After completion of the pilgrimage, Muhammad delivers his famous sermon which leads to the commencement of the conquests against the Christians and Zoroastrians. (read more)

632 AD

Death of Muhammad

Muhammad's last days are spent with Aisha in her house, where he continues to issue orders and curse the Christians and Jews.[20][21] Slumped against her bosom,[22] he finally dies on the 8th of July. Ali (Muhammad's son-in-law and cousin) reports that Muhammad's penis was erect after his death.[23] (read more)

↑"...But after a few days Waraqa died and the Divine Inspiration was also paused for a while and the Prophet (Mohammad) became so sad as we have heard that he intended several times to throw himself from the tops of high mountains and every time he went up the top of a mountain in order to throw himself down, Gabriel would appear before him and say, "O Muhammad! You are indeed Allah's Apostle in truth" whereupon his heart would become quiet and he would calm down and would return home. And whenever the period of the coming of the inspiration used to become long, he would do as before, but when he used to reach the top of a mountain, Gabriel would appear before him and say to him what he had said before." - Sahih Bukhari 9:87:111

↑"Such things have been promised to us and to our fathers before! they are nothing but tales of the ancients!" - Qur'an 23:83

↑"...The power of Abu Lahab will perish, and he will perish. His wealth and gains will not exempt him. He will be plunged in flaming Fire, And his wife, the wood-carrier, Will have upon her neck a halter of palm-fibre...." - Qur'an 111:1-5

↑"...Then a white animal which was smaller than a mule and bigger than a donkey was brought to me." (On this Al-Jarud asked, "Was it the Buraq, O Abu Hamza?" I (i.e. Anas) replied in the affirmative). The Prophet said, "The animal's step (was so wide that it) reached the farthest point within the reach of the animal's sight. I was carried on it, and Gabriel set out with me till we reached the nearest heaven...." - Sahih Bukhari 5:58:227

↑"...When I left him (i.e. Moses) he wept. Someone asked him, 'What makes you weep?' Moses said, 'I weep because after me there has been sent (as Prophet) a young man whose followers will enter Paradise in greater numbers than my followers.'..." - Sahih Bukhari 5:58:227

↑"....he [Muhammad] commanded more than twenty persons, and in another hadith these are counted as twenty-four persons, from the non-believers of the Quraish to be thrown into the well of Badr....." - Sahih Muslim 40:6870

↑"Allah did indeed fulfil His promise to you when ye with His permission Were about to annihilate your enemy,-until ye flinched and fell to disputing about the order, and disobeyed it after He brought you in sight (of the booty) which ye covet. Among you are some that hanker after this world and some that desire the Hereafter. Then did He divert you from your foes in order to test you but He forgave you: For Allah is full of grace to those who believe." - Qur'an 3:152

↑"The apostle of Allah sent for Zaynab and said to her, "What induced you to do what you have done?" She replied, "You have done to my people what you have done. You have killed my father, my uncle and my husband, so I said to myself, "If you are a prophet, the foreleg will inform you; and others have said, "If you are a king we will get rid of you." - Ibn Sa'd p. 252

↑"....Then he [Muhammad] ordered them to do three things. He said, "Turn the pagans out of the 'Arabian Peninsula; respect and give gifts to the foreign delegations as you have seen me dealing with them." (Said bin Jubair, the sub-narrator said that Ibn Abbas kept quiet as rewards the third order, or he said, "I forgot it.")" - Sahih Bukhari 5:59:716

↑"Narrated 'Aisha and Ibn 'Abbas: On his death-bed Allah's Apostle put a sheet over his-face and when he felt hot, he would remove it from his face. When in that state (of putting and removing the sheet) he said, "May Allah's Curse be on the Jews and the Christians for they build places of worship at the graves of their prophets." (By that) he intended to warn (the Muslim) from what they (i.e. Jews and Christians) had done." - Sahih Bukhari 4:56:660

↑"...'Aisha added: He died on the day of my usual turn at my house. Allah took him unto Him while his head was between my chest and my neck and his saliva was mixed with my saliva..." - Sahih Bukhari 7:62:144